Draft of national policy on financial education ready: SEBI

MUMBAI: The government and various sector regulators are working towards formulating a national policy on financial education and a draft of the project is ready, Sebi Chairman U K Sinha has said.

Speaking at the two-day Sebi-OECD International Conference on Investor Education held in Goa last week, Sinha also called upon the need for initiating financial education at school level.

According to a statement released by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), Sinha in his inaugural speech said that the various financial regulators in country and the government are working together in the formulation of a National Policy on Financial Education.

"A draft has already been prepared," Sinha said, while calling for more research in the field of investor education.

Sinha also emphasised that investor grievance redressal should be a matter of priority and an effective grievance redressal mechanism should have features like uniformity, predictability and consistency.

On the question of financial education at school level, the Sebi Chairman said the Ministry of Human Resource Development is working on the plan along with various regulators for inclusion of financial education in school curriculum of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

The conference was attended by nearly 200 delegates from 45 countries.

Among those who attended the event, held in February 3-4, was OCED Deputy Secretary General Richard Boucher.

A speech by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was also read out during the ocassion. In the specch read out in absentia. Mukherjee said the current global financial crisis has highlighted the risks posed by the complex financial products sold without passing the suitability and appropriateness test.